Well-cleaning device



July 8, 1924.

C. LARSEN WELL CLEANING DEVICE Filed Sent. 2l. 1923 Ii n Uf ci w 9 3 gnou/Hoz Cdr/e: anse/2.

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Patented Julys, 1924'.4

CHARLES LARSEN, 0F DENVER, COLORADO.

WELL-CLEANING DEVICE.

Application led September 21, 1923. Serial No. 664,130.

To aZZ whom t may conce'm:

Be it known that I, CHARLEs LARsnN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Denver, in the city and county of Denver and State` of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Well- Cleaning Devices; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artv to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification:

This invention relates to well cleaning devices and has special reference to an apparatus, by means of which oil wells that havefbecome unproductive, due to the accumulation and hardening of paraiiin, asphaltum or similar constituents of the hydrocarbon oils may be cleaned.

It is well known to those who are familiar with the operation of oil wells that many wells cease to be productive, owing to the fact that paraffin and other similar constituents, found in crude oil, harden along the wall and seal the sides of the well against the entrance of oil thereinto. .In order to restore Such wells to productiveness, it is necessary to introduce heat into the well in suicient quantities to melt the parain. This has been attempted and various methods have been proposed for this purpose. Among those of which I have knowledge may be mentioned the introduction of superheated steam, hot gases of combustion and heated oil, the latter being disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 635,660, led April 30, 1923. In employing any one of these methods, it is necessary to remove the pump line and to introduce the pipes employed in connection with the heating device. After the well has ,',been heatedsufiiciently to melt the paraiiin,

the pipes employed for this purpose must be removed, after which the pump line is again put into position. It is evident that all of this consumes a large amount of labor and time and that it is therefore expensive. Besides the expense involved in performing the operations referred to above, it sometimes happe'lis? that so much time elapses beltween the 'stopping of the heating and the beginning of the pumping opetion that the well cools sufficiently to allow `the paraffin to harden,.whereby a large share of the advantage to be derived from the heating is lost.

It is the object of this invention to produce a well cleaning device that shall be so constructed that the vwell may be heated without removing the pump line. In fact, it is my intention to employ the pump line as part of the means for conducting the heating operation. With the arrangement hereinafter to be described, the pump ordinarily employed for removing oil from the well may be employed to assist in causing the heating medium to circulate and the well may therefore be heated at any time without the necessity of removing and inserting a large amount of piping as must be done where the usual methods are employed. I l

My present invention, briefly described, contemplates the use of the ordinary pump line for the return ofthe heating uid which passes downwardly through another line parallel with the pump line and permanently connected thereto near its lower end. IIot oil may be circulated through these two pipes whenever desired and without making it necessary to remove any piping. A steam pipe passes downwardly within the oil pipe and connects with a number of radial openings through which the steam passes into the well, As the oilused for heating vthe well is raised to a temperature only-slightly below the flashing point or approximately 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and as the steam pipe is within the oil pipe and surrounded by this high temperature oil, it is evident that steam of very high temperature may be introduced into the well and I contemplate using superheated steam at about 800 degrees Fahrenheit and 750 pounds pressure.

In order to explain my invention more fully, I shall have reference to the accompanying drawing in which the same is shown in its preferred form, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my apparatus and a vertical sectional view of the well;

Fig. 2 lis a vertical section of the lower portion of the piping; and

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line v2 3, Fig. 2.

The same reference numbers will be employed to`designate the same parts throughout the several views.

Numeral 1 represents the surface lof the ground and 2 represents the casing of a well,

while 3 indicates the cavity formed inthe bottom of the well when the latter was shot, as wells usually are. After the well has been in operation for some time, the walls of the bottom cavity become saturated with paraiiin or other similarly acting material which hardens in place and prevents the oil from seeping into the well, with the result that the latter becomes unpro ductive. When this occurs it is necessary to introduce suiiicient heat into the well to melt the parain, which is indicated by numeral 4, and for this purpose I have provided the following combination of elements:

An ordinary pump line 5 extends from the ground to the bottom of the well 3. Near the lower yend of this pump line there is the usual cylinder 6 within which reciprocates the piston 7 which differs from the ordinary piston in this, that the leather cups ordinarily employed are replaced by metal piston rings such as areemployed in an internal combustion engine. Below'the cylinder 6 are two foot valves 8 and 9. A pump rod 10 extends from the piston and has its upper end connected to the walking beam 11 of an ordinary pump jack which is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. A pipe 12, provided with a valve 131, is connected to the upper end of the pump line and extends to the pipe line (not shown). When the jack is operated the pump delivers oil to pipe 12 in the usual manner.

In order to circulate the'heated oil in the manner suggested above, I provide a special fitting indicated by the numeral 13, which has its upper end externally threaded, as indicated by numeral 14, and this is connected to the coupling 15. The upper inside I portion of the fitting 13 carries the upper foot valve 8. The lower end of this fitting is externally threaded, as indicated by numeral 16, and has attached to it a section 17 which carries the lower foot valve 9. Projecting from one side of the fitting 13 is a part 18 which has an upwardly extending portion 19 that is internally threaded for the reception of a pipe 20. An opening 21 extends from the upwardly extending portion 19 to the interior of the fitting so that pipe 20 is in direct communication with the interior of the pipe line. A pocket 22 connects with the opening 21 and serves to catch dirt and solid matter that may come down through pipe 20. An opening 23 is provided in a port-ion of the rejection 18 in axial alignment with the pipe 20 and is threaded to receive the threaded lower end of the steam pi e 24. Radial holes 25 extend outwardly t rouglh the walls of the part 18 in the manner s own in Fig. 3. Pipe 24 is smaller than pipe 2O and is placed centrally thereof so as to provide an annular space between it and the inside of pipe 20. The

pump line is provided at its top with a stuiiing box 26, throu h which the pump-rod 10 extends. A pipe 2 extends from the top of the pump line to an expansion tank 28. A valve 29 is provided in the line 27. To the upper end of pipe 2O I connect a pipe 30 which extends to the oil heater 31. A valve 32 is provided to control the flow of oil through the pipe 30. A pipe 33 extends from the bottom of the expansion tank 28 to the pump 34 which is rotated through the medium of an internal combustion engine 35. From the delivery port of the pump a pipe 36 extends to and connects with the heater 31. Let us now suppose that the pump line 5, pipe 20, pipe 27, tank 28, pipe 33, pump 34, pipe 36, heater 31 and pipe 30 are full of oil and that the pump 34 is operating. The oil will be taken from the tank 28. forced through pi e 36 into and through the heater 31, thence t rough pipes 30, 20, pump line 5 and pipe 27, back to the tank, thus causing a circulation. As the oil inpipe 20 and pump line 5 balance, the pump is reuired to do only a very little more work t an is required to overcome the friction in the pipes. If desired, the pumping jack may be operated in conjunction with the pump 34, although this is not absolutely necessary. The heater 31 is provided with one or more oil burners 37, by means of which the oil can be heated to any extent desired and it is my intention to heat the same to about 500 degrees Fahrenheit. From the above it is apparent that hot oil can be circulated through pipe 20 and pump line 5 at any time without making it necessaryl to remove any piping and even without stopping the pumping jack. The circulation of eated oil in the manner described heats the pipes and the well to a high tem erature. As the chamber 3 is of considerable extent,

it is usually necessary to resort to the use of superheated steam for the purpose of melting the solidified paraiiin 4 and for this purpose pipe 24 has been provided. As already explained, this pipe extends downwardly within pipe 20 and is therefore surrounded with hot oil. The lower end of the pipe 24 is in communication with the interior of the chamber through holes 25, while the upper end connects with a boiler 38 which is heated by means of oil burners 39. Boiler 38 is provided with suitable superheating means (not shown) which enables the steam to be superheated to about 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Steam from boiler 38 is passed through the pipe 24 and enters the chamber 3 through holes 25. Since the steam pipe is surrounded by oil which is heated to a temperature of 500 de ees or more, the steam will cool very litt e on the Way and will enter the chamber 3. at a hi h temperature which will very- Soon `raisat e temperature of the chamber to the extentgequired t0 melt the parain. When this has been accomplishedLvalves. 29, 32 and 40 can be closed and valve 13 opened. The oil raised by the action of the pump will then be passed through pipe 12 into the pipe line.

Pump 34, engine 35, heater 31 and boiler 38 are mounted on a platform 41 in such a. manner that the entire assembly can be readily transported from place to place.

From the above it will be apparent that I have invented a well cleaning device which is so designed and constructed that the well may be heated at any time without the necessity of removing the pump line or interfering with it in any way. This removes the labor and ex ense that has hitherto been required for this operation. My' device requires one specially constructed section only and this can be readily and cheaply made. 'The remaining portions of -my device are of standard'stock material and can be purchased anywhere. Wells equipped with my device can be cleaned at any time and at a small expense.

Havin now described my invention, what I claim 1s:

1. Means for heating the interiors of deep wells, which comprises a pump line extendin from the top tothe bottom of the well; a oot valve at the lower end of said pump line; a cylinder located above said foot valve; a piston in said cylinder; an oil pipe parallel to the pump line, and connected thereto at a point mtermediate the footvalve and the piston; means for circulating highly heated mineral oil through said pipe and pump line; a steam pipe passing through the interior of the oil pi e, said pipe having radial openings at the ttom, said openings communicating with the interior of the well; and means for passing superheated steam through said steam pipe into the well.

2. Means for heating the interiors of deep wells, which comprises a pump line extending' from the top to the vbottom of the well; two spaced foot valves near the lower end of said line; an oil pipe connected at its lower end to the pump line at apoint between said foot valves; a steam pipe inside of said oil line, said steam pipe having openings connecting the interior thereof with the interior of the well; means for circulating heated oil through said pipe line and sald oil pipe; and means for forcin superheated steam through the steam plpe into the well.

3. A pipe fitting comprising a tubular member having a projecting portion on one side, said projection having an opening adapted to receive the end of a pipe; and a passageway connecting said opening with the interior of the tubular member; a dirt receiving pocket communicating with the pasageway, said projecting portion having a second opening connected with the passageway, said last named opening being adapted to receive a steam pipe.

1n testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

. CHARLES LARSEN. 

